Why climb this behemoth? I just had to!
I wanted to answer a question that my Christmas gift from the Fettermans of Landenberg posed. In my new journal, the first entry from my brother Jay was: "1 Question and 1 Request."
The question: What is your "Why" for climbing Mt. Rainier?
The request: Record the journey in this journal so we can read about it someday.
My immediate answer was, "I just have to!!!!" but that is hard to explain. To help with that answer, family and friends may remember that during my serious days of climbing, I would journal every climb, noting the weather, the route, including maps of routes, but also about the experience, the views, the life lessons learned that day.
I dug the journals out of my safe, and the answer to Jay's question was right there, from the start of a memoir written in the summer of 1998 in Camden, Maine, when I was living with Jay, of all things. I feel that this excerpt truly explains that since I was a young boy, climbing Mt. Rainier is something that I knew I had to do. I hope this also brings understanding and appreciation of the mountains as it does for me.
Climb On
Introduction:
The conquering of the rock fortress. Standing on top, looking down on the world as if you are the all mighty Zeus. The satisfaction of accomplishment, the gratification of standing where nature has rarely been touched by a human being. These are the rewards of climbing, that few will ever experience and what the majority can't even comprehend. The challenges, the risks, the blood and sweat, the peacefulness, the sights. These rewards are what make climbing so valuable, memorable, and amazing to me and what will keep me coming back to the mountains time and time again.
Chapter 1: A Climbing Synopsis
It all began at the age of five or six in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on a day trip with family and friends from out of town. We pulled into a turnout to view the scenery of the glacier formed mountains and the spectacular ledges carved into their sides. When looking closely, we noticed little dots of orange and red slowly ascending one of the cliffs.
My father commenting that it was people climbing the rocks put me into deeper concentration and into a state of amazement. Most kids at that age would ask why they were doing that or how. Me, I thought how awesome it would be to climb those cliffs, and imagined myself as one of those specs, which 15 years later...it was me!
(Fast forward a few paragraphs/years)
A few years later in Washington, the family would make summer trips to Mt. Rainier, where we'd hike on the glaciers of the massive snow-covered volcano, and where my interest and intrigue grew around climbing. Often passing climbers on their way down from the summit with their big packs and sunburned faces, I'd ask them if they reached the summit, and with a dirty grin, I'd get a "Yes!" Again, immediately, I pictured myself on the summit, looking down on the world. (and 30 years later, that was me!).
(A further synopsis...)
Around the same time, I got a metal framed backpack from my neighbor Col. Black, filling it with clothesline and granola bars. With it, climbing the mountain behind the house, I regularly pretended to summit Mt. Rainier or the Matterhorn (yes...Banner in the Sky was my favorite book growing up and I did book reports on that book from 3rd-8th grade). Fast forward to the 90s... climbing some of the largest ledges in the country, doing multi-day trips in sub-zero temps above the tree line pushing the limits, wanting more of a challenge each time, a better view of the world and a space less touched by humans than the prior climb or expedition.
Mt. Rainier is it! The one mountain, the one challenge, the number one item on my bucket list that I have been itching to do since I was a young boy. You have to see Mt. Rainier in person to truly understand why. Hopefully the above gives you a glimpse of why I had to summit Mt. Rainier!
Climb On!